Review: Blacklisted - When People Grow, People Go
By Chris Reinbold, Staff Writer
[Deathwish; 2015]
Rating: 7.5/10
Key Tracks: “Gossamer,” “Burnt Palms,” “When People Grow, People Go”
Blacklisted is a hardcore band from the American independent music capital, Philadelphia, Pa. Blacklisted, however, is not forming in the wake of this monstrous musical explosion coming from eastern Pennsylvania. The band put out its first album, …The Beat Goes On, in 2005 and just released its fourth, When People Grow, People Go.
Blacklisted started as a pretty typical northeastern hardcore band, ripping most of its sound from the old guard of the NYHC scene like Madball and Youth of Today. Unlike many hardcore bands that merely reinvent the wheel on each release, Blacklisted has evolved and incorporated elements of other heavy genres along the way, from groove metal rhythms and death metal growls to thrash metal tremolo-picking and singing that resembles Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley.
The album begins with heavy-hitter “Insularized.” Immediately vocalist George Hirsch hits the listener over the head with his menacing yell. At the end of this short track, Hirsch already sounds like he is about to spit up part of his lung. This is just the beginning, Hirsch holds nothing back on this album, and each verse sounds just as taxing as the last. The album is fast-paced and the transitions--not just from song to song, but from verse to chorus to bridge--are seamless.
Halfway through the album comes its first true rager. “Gossamer” starts with a throttling riff and it does not let go. Most of this track is not particularly innovative in respect to hardcore; there is a driving main riff with heavy drums, feedback and a full vocal assault. The song does digress into one of the grooviest bass-driven passages in modern hardcore that would not feel out of place on a Pantera record. Over this bridge, Hirsch provides a gruesome vocal that is more spoken word than hardcore yell.
Another head-splitter follows right after “Gossamer.” Unlike the more typical hardcore sound of “Gossamer,” “Burnt Palms” draws heavily from the sounds of the Florida death metal bands from the ‘90s, like Obituary. The guitars are tremolo-picked and Hirsch blankets the crushing instrumental bed with his take on a more metal growl. At the one-minute mark, the band makes a foray into the more melodic side of hardcore, channeling the likes of Pat Flynn and Have Heart.
The band saves its best performance for the closer. Overall, “When People Grow, People Go” is a Frankenstein of all of the highest points of the album; this is Blacklisted hitting its hardest. By the end of the song, it is impossible to not be moved and feel something, especially as someone entering their 20s, dealing with the ups and downs of college life. As the music fades, Hirsch yells, “There is no easy way / To explain / When people grow / People go!”
When People Grow, People Go is definitely the strongest effort from Philly’s Blacklisted. Although the band reaches fantastic high points throughout the album, it does meander into a few valleys. On "Bottle Rockets,” the vocal and music do not manage to fit together well. Hirsh displays his more Keith Buckley vocal style, but over the ‘90s punk influenced instrumental work, it comes off as awkward. Similarly, on “Foreign Observer” the more alternative-metal vocal style Hirsch tries to present comes off as weak.
Overall, When People Grow, People Go, is a great release from one of the top bands in the hardcore genre. Blacklisted refuses to settle down and play the same songs repeatedly. The band evolves and experiments, which is crucial in hardcore, with as many cookie-cutter bands as there are on the market. Though these attempts may fall short occasionally, they display how the band wishes to grow and define itself.
